Automatic air-intake for submarines, &amp;c.



A- HOAR. AUTOMATIC AIR INTAKE FOR SUBMARINES, &c.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 26, 1914.

Patented Aug. 2%, 1915.

w m W v 4 UNITED STATES earns? onmon ALLEN HOAR, F LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO .ABNER R. NEFF, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

Antoni/time AIRJNTAKE FOR S'UBMARINES, 8w.

To all ev/m it may concern; 7

Be it known that l, Annex lloan, a citizen of the linited .States, residing at Lone;

Beach, in the county of Los Angeles, State.

of (,ialitornia, have invented. new and usel'ul ln'iprovements in Automatic Air-Intakes tor Subn'iarines, &c. of which the following is a specification.

This invention. relates to auti'nnaticmeans for admit-ting atmospheric air to submarines and the like when running close to or on the surface: and the primary object oi. the invention is the. provision ola simple and re liable mechanisur for automatically admit ting atmospheric air when the submarine is at the surface and "for closing and preventing access of sea water when the submarine is submerged.

I am aware that automatic and Heat controlled valves have heretofore been used for admitting atmospheric air to a sulnnarine: and I do not seek to claim such a combination broadly in itsel'i', seeking only to claim the specific combination and. arrangement. herein set forth.

The details of my invention are fully dcscribed in the following specification and are shown in preferred form in the accent panying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation showing: submarine equipped with my air intake. and Fig. 2 is an enlarged section of the air intake mechanism itself.

In the drawings the numeral 10 designates the, hull. of a submarine and the nu meral 11 designates an interior compartment thereof, such as the engine compartment having the engines 12 therein. The

automatic atmospheric air intake is designated generally by the numeral 13. This air intake is preferably housed under a superstructure 14 into which air and sea water may have access as through apertures 15. The automatic air intake mechanism is e);- posed to sea or atmosphere, as the case may be; being mechanically and physically protected by the superstrm-ture. The automatic intake includes an intake tube at the upper end of which is placed a valve 21 adapted to control the opening at the upper Specification of Letters Patent.

action of the closing spring 23.

Patented Aug. 2%, 1915.

' Application filed October 26, 1314. Serial No. 868,579.

end of the tube. This valve 21 mav be mounted upon a vertical valve stem 22 and may be pressed downwardly by a spring 23, or the valve may be seated by water pressure without the aid of the spring. The lower end of the valve stem 22 may connect with a piston 2+ in a cylinder 25, the oliice of this piston and cylinder mechanism being to raise the valve oil its seat and to hold the valve in its raised position against the A pipe 27 leads to the cylinder 25. This pipe has two bran hes 3N and 2E) leadin to valves 30 and 31. respectively. 'lhcse valves may be of any suitable construction and are normally closed. .\ssociated w'ih each of the valves is a lever arm 34 or 33: and the movement of either olivthese arms in the direction indicated by the arrows will cause the opening o the corresponding valve. The arms.3-t and 233 project. into a vertical tubular guide 23; pertoratcd so as to be open to the water; and a spherical lloatj-Ei-E vertically movable in the guide tube 232 will strike the arms 2H: and 23.3 and raise the arm 3+ or press the arm 535 down. In the normal condition of surl'ace travel. water will not reach the float- 33 and it will press down on, the arm 35, c u ing the valve 11 to be opened. Opening of this valve will admit fluid pressure (air pressure) l'rom the pipe so to the pipe :2!) and thence to the cylinder 25 to act. against; the piston :Zlto raise the valve 21. if the submarine goes beneath the surl e the water will gradually rise under the superstructure and in the tubular guide 32, rai ing, the float 33 until it strikes thearm 34, moving that arm. upwardly and opening the valve 30, which will allow exhaust of air from the cylinder 25, allowing the valve El to close. The valve will remain seated until the submarine again rises to the surface and the float 33 lowers against the arm 5?), allowing); fluid pressure to enter the cylinder 25 to raise tlievalve 21.

In the lower part of the tube 20 there is a manually operable valve 40 which may be closed and opened by a hand wheel 41, for use in case the automatic 'alve should fail to operate. The air inlet tube 20 has a horizontal offset 42 below the valve 40 communieating at 43 with the interior of the boat, at a point to one side of the hand wheel 4L1; so that, if the automatic valve fails to close, and water enters through the air inlet, the

.entering water will not prevent access to the hand wheel. ll to close the valve 40. This is an important operating feature.

The features I wish to particularlyem phasize are: (1) the accuracy and reliability of my mechanism, due to the fact that the float does not directly move the main valve but moves it through the medium of a fluid pressure mechanism which may be made as powerful and positive as necessary to always insure proper closure of the valve; (2) the provision for inlet in case to operate, said provision being made so that the hand operating wheel can always be reached even when water is entering; and (8) the general simplicity of the whole mechanism.

Having described my invention, I claim: 1. Atmospheric air intake mechanism for submarines and the like, comprising a vertical air inlet tube, an automatically actuated valve controlling the opening. at the upper end of the tube, an offset portion at the lower end of the tube communicating with the submarine interior to one side of the vertical line of the" air inlet tube, and a manually operable valve controlling communication between the air inlet tube and the offset ortion. 1 i

2. Atmospheric air-intake mechanism for submarines and the like, comprising a vertical air inlet tube, an automatically actuated valve controlling the opening at the upper end of the tube, an offset portion at the lower end of the tube communicating with the submarine interior to one side of the vertical line of the air inlet tube, and a manually operable valve controlling communication between the air inlet tube and the ofiset portion, said valve having means of manual operation extending into the submarine interi or immediately beneath the air inlet tube and to one side of the communication of the oii'set with the submarine interior, substantially as described.

3. Atmospheric air intake mechanism for submarines and the like, comprising a vertical air inlet tube open to atmosphere at its upper end, a horizontal offset communicating with the bottom end of said tube, said horizontal ofl'set'having communication with the submarine interior to a pointhorizontally removed from a point directly beneath said tube, a valve controlling the communication at the bottom of said-tube, and means for manually operating said valve extending into. the submarine interior immediatelybeneath said tube, substantiallyas described.

hand operation to close the the automatic mechanism fails 4. Atmospheric air intake mechanism for submarines and the like, comprising a vertical air inlet tube wlth an open upper end, a valve adapted to close said upper end, a cylinder arranged within said tube, a piston therein, a rod on which both said piston and said valve are mounted, and float controlled means for admitting and exhausting fluid pressure to and from said cylinder.

5. Atmospheric air intake mechanism for submarines and the like, comprising a, vertical air inlet tube with an open upper end, a valve over the open upper end of said tube and adapted to close said upper end by downward movement, a vertical valve stem for said valve extending downwardly into said tube, a compression spring above said valve tending to normally seat it and to close the upper end of the tube, a cylinder within said tube below the valve and arranged concentricallytherewith, a iston in said cylinder mounted upon said va ve stem,-

and float controlled means to admit and exhaust fluid pressure to and fromsaid cyl-.

inder below said piston to cause movement of said valve.

6. Atmospheric air intake mechanism for submarines and the like, comprising a vertical air intake tube open to atmosphere at its upper end,a valve over the said open upper end adap downward movement, a cylinder within said tube beneath the Valve, a piston in said cyl-- inder connected with said valve, float controlled means for admitting and exhausting fluid pressure to and from the cylinder, 8.

ted to close the same by.

horizontal offset communicating with said tube at its lower end and communicating with the submarine interior at a point hOllzontally removed from the vertical tube, a valve controlling said communication between thetube and offset, and means for manually operating said valve extending into the submarine interior directly beneath said tube, substantially and for the purpose described.

7 Atmospheric air intake mechanism for submarines and the like, comprising a vertical air intake tube open to atmosphere at its upper end, a valve over the said 'open upper end adapted to close the same by downward movement, a compression spring above said valve tending to press the valve downwardly to close the open upper end of said tube, a valve stem projectin downwardly into said tube, a cylinder wlthin the tube concentrically below the valve, :1. piston I in said cylinder mounted upon said valve stem, float controlled means for admitting and exhausting fluid pressure to and from the cylinder, a horizontahofiset communicating with said tube at its lower end and communicating with the submarine intenor at a pomt horizontally removed from the vertical tube, a valve controlling said have hereunto subscribed my name this 19th communication between the tube and offset; day of October, 1914. and means for manually opera-ting said valve extending into the submarine interior 5 directly beneath said tube, substantially as Witnesses:

and for the purpose described. E. B. ARMSTRONG,

In Witness that I claim the foregoing I JAMES T. BARKELEW.

ALLEN HOAR. 

